You are here

NEW HAVEN, CT—Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Sam Farr (D-CA) today called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to request the resources the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to fully implement the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The representatives urged OMB and HHS to discontinue its practice of requesting user fees to implement FSMA.

“Once the major rules are completed in the upcoming year, FDA will require additional funding to fully implement FSMA,” they wrote. “In your Fiscal Year 2017 budget request, we again urge you to avoid requesting disproportionate new user fees to implement FSMA. As you know, Congress has rejected the Administration's last five requests to provide for the implementation of FSMA through user fees. No bill to authorize such fees has been introduced and even if enabling legislation is introduced this year, it is highly unlikely that any new law will be enacted in time to fund these vital FSMA implementation steps. De-emphasizing user fees in your budget will strengthen our common efforts to achieve bipartisan support to fully fund this important law.”

The letter to OMB Director Shaun Donovan can be read in its entirety here and the letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell can be found here.

DeLauro and Farr both serve on the subcommittee responsible for funding the FDA. Farr is the current senior Democrat, a role DeLauro formerly held. DeLauro currently serves as senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding HHS.

FSMA is the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. Adequate implementation funding is essential for success.